The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a cooling element according to the preamble of the appended claim 1. The invention also relates to a cooling element.
In connection with industrial furnaces, such as flash smelting furnaces, blast furnaces and electric furnaces used in the manufacturing of metals, or in connection with other metallurgic reactors, there are used cooling elements that are typically made of mainly copper. On the surface of the cooling element, there is often arranged a ceramic lining, for instance made of fireproof bricks. The cooling elements are typically water-cooled and thus provided with a cooling water channel system, so that the heat is transferred from the fireproof bricks through the housing of the cooling element to the cooling water. The cooling elements are used in extreme working conditions, where they are subjected to strong corrosion and erosion strain caused by the furnace atmosphere or contacts with the molten material. For an effective operation of the cooling element, it is important that the joint between the fireproof bricks and the cooling element is good, in which case an effectively heat-transferring contact is achieved. A drawback in the manufacturing of known cooling elements is the complexity of the manufacturing methods in attaching the ceramic/fireproof lining and the difficulty in obtaining a good contact between the ceramic lining and the element. Thus the cooling properties of the element cannot be fully utilized. This in turn results in an accelerated wearing of the lining.
The object of the invention is to realize a method for manufacturing a cooling element, by which method the drawbacks of the prior art can be avoided. Another object of the invention is to realize a cooling element that has a good contact between the ceramic lining and the element housing.
The invention is characterized by what is specified in the appended claims.
The arrangement according to the invention has several remarkable advantages. According to the method, there is obtained an extremely good contact between the ceramic lining elements and the cooling element housing. This maintains the temperature on the furnace-side of the cooling element and its ceramic parts, such as the fireproof bricks, sufficiently low, so that on the element surface there is created a so-called autogenous lining, comprising among others oxidic and/or sulfidic molten components. Now the wearing of the bricks, among others, is essentially slowed down, and the working life of the cooling element is increased. The method according to the invention is advantageous also as regards the manufacturing technology.